Chapter 38
The Citadel
Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams exited the crowded tram car at a brisk pace, shouldering her way through the mass of other passengers spilling out, everyone eager to exit the transport station and get on to their destinations.
It was like that now on the Citadel, the inhabitants moving about the common areas with a palpable sense of urgency, a strong atmosphere of nervous tension penetrating just about every aspect of daily life. In the wake of the disaster at Keel Docking Station and what had followed that tragedy, a deep sense of unease and mistrust was the new norm.
Authorities identified the freighter that had exploded at Keel as belonging to the Vol Protectorate. It had been a recent arrival at the Citadel, having just made port a few hours before the incident. Ferrying volus refugees fleeing the Reaper advance ravaging colonies along the outer rim, the ship was housing more than eight hundred souls on board when its reactor went critical. There were no survivors among the crew or passengers who'd been waiting for the overtaxed relief authorities to carve out enough space for them within the ever-growing makeshift refugee camps.
Collateral damage had been extensive at the docks. Several adjacent vessels were severely damaged and most of the Keel's facilities were put out of commission, likely for months. In terms of lives lost and damage sustained, it had been the worst disaster suffered aboard the massive space station since Saren Arterius arrived with his geth fleet and the Reaper vanguard, Sovereign.
Unfortunately, it was only the beginning.
Less than nine hours after the explosion at Keel, a second detonation occurred in the heart of Kithoi Ward's predominately turian district, leveling a high-rise commercial and entertainment building. More than a thousand were killed, three times that number wounded.
By then, C-Sec investigators had revised their assessment that the Keel disaster had been the result of a freak reactor malfunction, pivoting and working under the new theory that the event was connected to what was obviously a targeted attack on the local population, maybe even the turians specifically.
The next morning, after a Siari church filled with hundreds of asari worshipers was vaporized by a low yield antimatter device, little doubt remained that the Citadel was very suddenly in the midst of a full-scale and highly organized terrorist assault.
The local Comm Buoy network had been the next shoe to drop. Soon after the attacks at Keel Station and Kithoi Ward, network hubs all throughout the Widow System and those extending beyond, way out into the Serpent Nebula, began to fail. Even before the Reaper invasion, network architects had been warning for years that individual comm buoy nodes could be susceptible to traffic overload and cause a cascading effect of failures throughout a network segment. Now, with more than two dozen highly populated worlds screaming for help from the Citadel, all at once, it seemed their prophecy was becoming a reality.
But an army of technicians quickly determined that traditional network oversaturation wasn't the problem at all. Instead, they found evidence of an incredibly sophisticated distributed denial of service attack, pummeling the network from hundreds of data points that shouldn't even exist. The experts were working around the clock to try and reverse the effect and restore conventional communications, but progress was nearly nonexistent. In a very short span of time, a place where inhabitants had once enjoyed an unparalleled sense of connectedness to the galaxy at large had quickly become as isolated as the most distant of frontier colonies.
Most communications off the station were now being routed through antiquated comm drones, sent out through the relays to dozens of client worlds across the galaxy with no assurance they'd make it past the roving Reaper forces. QEC nodes were unaffected by the Buoy Network outage, but access to these rare devices was severely limited, exclusive to the Citadel Council offices and local military fleet leadership. After the bombings, the Citadel Tower and Council and Embassy compounds were effectively sealed to all but the most essential personnel and those with ultra-high security clearances. Former Ambassador Anita Goyle, unfortunately, hadn't made the cut. Her access to the Human Embassy's QEC system had always been contingent on the good graces of her allies in the Diplomatic Corps. With the new security measures now in play, her most reliable means of secure comms was gone and with it, the team's direct link to the Normandy, Captain Shepard, and Miranda Lawson.
They were largely in the dark now, along with most of the rest of the Citadel's population.
Worse still, the hospitals and relief centers, already overtaxed by the scores of battlefield casualties and refugees streaming in over the last several weeks, were beginning to buckle under the pressure. This latest string of violence and sabotage had shaken the population and pushed emergency services to the brink. All the while, the imminent threat of the Reaper forces active in nearby systems was driving an undercurrent of fear and a palpable, low-level tension permeating nearly every aspect of daily life on the station.
If all that wasn't bad enough, the fact that each of the recent attacks had targeted non-humans hadn't been lost on the population or the local media. That fact stirred a subtle, slow burning suspicion directed toward the Systems Alliance and the station's permanent human enclaves. Ashley was already beginning to hear of incidents where human-operated businesses had been vandalized and off-duty Alliance troops had been harassed by groups of angry turians and asari.
The Citadel, for all its glory as the galaxy's seat of power and its status as a beacon of prosperity, was still in the midst of a long reconstruction effort after the geth and Sovereign attack and not at all ready to deal with the massive scale of crisis it was now confronted with.
For her own part, Ashley couldn't shake the image in her mind of the station caught in some enormous, slowly closing trap, suffocating and tearing itself apart while an armada of Reaper capital ships blotted out the local star's light. And she feared that after all her family had been through to get to the Citadel that perhaps they had simply exchanged one dying world for another doomed home.
The thought spurred her on.
She jogged up the wide metallic stairwell, the ponytail her long brown hair was tied up in bobbing up and down as she took the steps two at a time. Emerging at street level, she quickly joined the throng of people moving along one of Tayseri Ward's central pedways. Even with foot traffic on the station moving at a noticeably swifter pace since the attacks, Ashley outpaced most of the other inhabitants, her slim form weaving through the crowds. She ignored the occasional furtive, suspicious glance thrown her way by the asari she passed, her attention more focused on the feed from her tactical visor running in full mission-ready mode.
With all the chaos onboard the station, Ashley wasn't so dense as to move about the public spaces in uniform—effectively, with a target on her back—at least not by herself or without her heavy armor and high-powered Avenger M-8A1 assault rifle. Unfortunately, all that gear would cause a bit too much of a stir. Instead, she'd gone with an ultralight nanofiber armor base layer worn beneath her casual outfit that was almost totally unnoticeable. As was the heavy sidearm strapped to her side, tucked under one arm, and the brace of thermal clips stashed in the shoulder rig pouches hidden beneath her jacket. But perhaps the greatest comfort was the personal kinetic barrier unit she'd pulled from her heavy battle armor, its streamlined modules pressed snuggly and reassuringly against the small of her back.
A spindly armor-clad turian male made a point of jutting out one pointy hip into her path as she passed him, but she gracefully sidestepped the move without even breaking stride, not bothering to so much as cast a dirty look back in the asshole's direction. She didn't have time for that kind of petty shit. She was too eager to make it to Goyle's apartment, responding to the summons she'd received from the former human ambassador earlier that morning, and keen to find out what the woman had in mind.
After Ashley and Kasumi relayed what they'd found in Zakera Ward's Factory District—the mysterious combat-enhanced LOKI Mechs—Goyle had been deeply troubled. But she was also reluctant to act with haste, their understanding of the broader implications of the find still too limited.
Kasumi had urged her to take what they already had to the other Councilors, but Goyle wasn't ready for that yet. She feared that Udina and Admiral Kaneda's suspect actions could jeopardize the fragile alliance humanity had formed with the Turian Hierarchy and derail the ongoing efforts to solidify similar pacts with the Asari Republics and Salarian Union. And now, after the attacks that had occurred on the Citadel in recent days, there was a real threat that the Alliance could be expelled from the Council altogether if a major scandal involving the two highest ranking humans was exposed. The stakes were high, with no clearly superior option available to them.
Ashley knew Anita was trying to work the problem like the lifelong politician she was. Methodical, calculating, searching for compromises and solutions that would benefit the majority and present the least amount of negative impact to all parties involved. Goyle wanted to avoid, or at least delay, any action that swung too far to the extreme. Conservativism tended to be a guiding principle for those who spent their lives working within the established political arena, regardless of one's particular philosophies and convictions.
It was beginning to frustrate the hell out of Ashley.
She respected Goyle. No, more accurately, she genuinely admired the woman for all she'd done in the past to help build the Alliance into what it was and, more recently, for the work she'd been doing behind the scenes to hold the entire house of cards together.
But Ashley was a soldier. She knew there was a point of no return in situations like these, where you were left with nothing except a collection of steadily worsening options. She could feel the momentum carrying them to that terminus now, to a place where one tended to only find gunfire, blood, and death waiting.
A light pulse and chirp in Ashley's ear alerted her to an incoming voice comm link and a small pop-up message on her visor's display identified the caller as PFC Campbell, S.T. She focused her attention on the icon and accepted the link. "Williams here."
"Commander, it's Private Campbell."
"I can see that, Private. What's up?"
"Where are you, ma'am?"
"Tayseri Ward. Why?" Ashley said, noting the stress in Campbell's voice.
"You're not coming to Fleet Ops?"
"No. My shift's not until later tonight. What is it, Campbell? What's wrong?"
"I don't understand… Haven't you seen the alert come across the Alliance emergency band?"
Ashley exhaled impatiently, stepping out of the flow of foot traffic and moving next to a stout pillar adjacent to the pedway. She blinked through a series of menus, cycling over to access her Alliance military secure data and comm links but was greeted by one System Unavailable warning after another. "What the hell," she said, checking her Omni-tool's direct interface but finding the same issue. "My links are all offline. I can't even access my Navy-Net email account."
"That's really weird, Commander. All my access is five-by-five."
"Well, I'm obviously in the dark, Campbell," Ashley said. "So why don't you just enlighten me? What's got you spooked?"
"Active recall, ma'am. Full imminent combat alert protocols," Campbell said. "There's been nothing official from the brass yet, but the rumor mill is working at light speed for this one. It's the Reapers, ma'am. Confirmed signatures detected at the edge of the nebula."
Ashley felt the blood drain from her face and a chill run up her spine. "Oh shit," she muttered.
"The entire fleet's being mobilized, best we can tell," Campbell continued and swallowed audibly. "I've got orders to report to a staging area at the Alliance military docks on the Presidium. Looks like they're splitting up the battalion and dispersing us among the ships preparing to steam out and intercept the enemy. My shuttle's leaving inside of ninety minutes… I was hoping you'd be assigned out there too, maybe even heading to the same cruiser."
Ashley remained still, absorbing the news with a mixture of apprehension and confusion.
After Campbell had come to see her at Huerta several weeks back, more or less begging to be retained permanently on board the Normandy, Ashley had called in some favors and made sure the young Marine was temporarily assigned to the 4th Logistics and Support Battalion based out of the Citadel. After the Reapers showed up in Sol, the battalion began to expand its ranks by absorbing displaced soldiers whose units had been decimated by the enemy, former colonial garrison troops, and Marines like Campbell who were still technically recovering from battlefield wounds.
Chiefly providing military port security, equipment maintenance, and ground supply services, the 4th, in the event of an enemy incursion of Widow, was to form the backbone of the Citadel local defense forces and assume overarching tactical command of the station, superseding C-Sec authority. It was a plan authorized directly by the Council, mainly because neither the turians, asari, nor salarians maintained anywhere near the number of combat-capable troops on the station. If the Reapers got past the Fleet's perimeter, the battalion's commander would order the station's Ward arms closed, fortify for a siege, and hope like hell the enemy couldn't find a way inside before help arrived.
Ashley knew all this because she'd helped refine the plan and the various defense tactics to be employed, given she was viewed as something of an expert on the topic due to her experience fighting on the Citadel during a previous siege of the station. It was because of her intimate knowledge of the battalion's mission that she was stunned to hear that Campbell and the others were suddenly being dispersed among the Fleet assets. Aside from the imminent destruction of the station, there was no contingency where those troops were to be embarked.
Ashley chewed on this new information for a good twenty seconds before making up her mind. "Listen to me, Campbell," she said. "I don't want you to report to that shuttle. There's something wrong here."
Campbell hesitated on the line. "Ma'am, I have orders."
"You're only on loan to the 4th, Campbell, which means I'm still your CO," Ashley reminded her tersely, opening a new messaging portal on her Omni-tool. "I'm sending you an address over a secure private link. Your new orders are to slip out the barracks with as much gear as you can safely carry and get yourself there. If you can convince any of your squadmates to come with you, all the better. But keep a low profile and don't try to pry anyone away who you don't absolutely trust. If I'm wrong about this, I'll square it with the battalion commander. You hear me, Private?"
"Yes, Commander. I understand." Campbell said. She sounded a little relieved. "I've got the address. I'll get there."
"Good. I've got somewhere I need to be right now, but I'll meet you there as soon as I can. Just keep your head down and stay cool until I arrive."
"Copy that, ma'am. Campbell out."
Ashley closed the link on her end and glanced around, simultaneously switching her visor's awareness settings to tactical combat alert, a wave of paranoia washing over her. She tried her Alliance networks again, finding the same Error—Offline message flashing in angry red digital script.
Like most of the busy thoroughfares on the Citadel, C-Sec presence was heavy in the immediate area, officers mingling through the crowds in pairs or standing at elevated points above the concourse. A few dozen meters away, her visor tagged a trio of HASTR operatives, their Exo-suits and tactical headgear making them easy to spot.
In the few short days since the attacks began, Udina's little band of special forces had grown steadily bolder with their actions, inserting themselves into law enforcement matters that shouldn't concern them, shaking down petty criminals—mostly non-humans—and generally stepping on the toes of C-Sec. It was like they were going out of their way to become more unpopular and polarizing, stirring up resentment against humans even further.
She eyed them suspiciously for a few seconds before turning her attention back to her Omni-tool, accessing another set of menus. A moment later, the personal transponder every active-duty Alliance soldier is equipped with was disabled and she was on the move again, swallowed up by the mass of civilians moving along the concourse.
When she arrived at the foot of the Sterisayne building, its luminous glass walls towering above her, she took the maintenance entrance in, using a code key Goyle had given her. Skirting the lobby and bypassing the main bank of elevators, she entered the auxiliary stairwell and began her long hike upward. By the time she arrived at the Ambassador's apartment door, Ashley was panting and her face was glistening with perspiration. She silently thanked God she hadn't slacked with her physical training since being released from Huerta and tapped her finger against her temple, deactivating her visor. Leaning in closer, the retinal scanner automatically identified her, disengaged the heavy locks, and the doors slid open with a near silent whoosh.
Slipping inside, Ashley quickly secured the entryway behind her before striding through the foyer and into the apartment's big central living space. She stopped abruptly at the edge of the fashionably sunken room, finding two men she hadn't expected already present there. Her muscles tensed and she reflexively began to reach for the gun under her coat. But then Thane Krios came around the corner and gave her a reassuring nod, wordlessly relaying the drell man's cool composure.
Ashley returned Thane's nod and allowed her hands to relax, turning her gaze back to the strangers. The older of the two men was dressed in a C-Sec officer's uniform. The other, in an expensive suit. She realized they weren't strangers at all. Or, at least, she recognized them both without the need to access her visor's encyclopedia.
Anita Goyle followed Thane into the room a moment later with Kolyat trailing close behind her. The older woman regarded Ashley with a tight smile. "Commander Williams, I'm glad you made it. We have urgent business to discuss." She gestured to the two men in turn. "This is Commander Bailey of C-Sec and Ambassador Osoba of the Systems Alliance Diplomatic Mission."
"Sirs," Ashley said, nodding to the men, still sizing them up. Bailey looked to be the very definition of a grizzled career cop. His brow was permanently creased by what had probably been half a lifetime dealing with crime scenes and interrogating criminals. His expression was stern, but otherwise unreadable. Osoba, on the other hand, eyed her with a wary curiosity, maintaining a facade of poise he'd likely been working to perfect for years.
He needed to keep working on it, Ashley thought to herself. He didn't look at all comfortable to be standing there.
"We were just preparing to leave for the Human Embassy compound on the Presidium where we intend to place Councilor Udina under arrest," Goyle announced. "The charge will be misappropriation of Systems Alliance funds. Of course that's only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, but there's more than enough evidence specific to his embezzlement activities to have him immediately suspended from his post. Commander Bailey already has a team of officers in place whom will meet us there. Ambassador Osoba will assume the Councillorship, provisionally, according to emergency parliamentary doctrine. Given Admiral Kaneda's association with Donnell, I'd like you to accompany us to represent the military."
Ashley made a face that said about fucking time. "Wonderful. I'm in. But we've got a bit of a problem," she said and proceeded to relay the details of her conversation with Private Campbell, including the bit about her sudden lack of access to the secure Alliance military networks.
"I think we need to rethink our plan," Osoba said shakily. He'd gone pale over the news of the Reapers, looking like he might be physically ill. Ashley instinctively took a half step back, not much interested in getting vomit on her boots.
"Yeah, no shit," Bailey growled, activating his Omni-tool and beginning to cycle through information. "It doesn't appear that Alliance Fleet Ops has bothered to inform C-Sec of an imminent invasion, but there's a lot of military activity at the docks. Navy's pushing Port Authority out of the checkpoints and assuming emergency control over Flight Operations… Hmm." He narrowed his gaze on the small readout before expanding the holographic feed. An image of Ashley pulled from her personnel file appeared above his outstretched arm. "I think I've found your problem, Commander. It seems you've been flagged as a suspect in the recent string of bombings. Something about links to extreme humanity-first movements, disgraced SAIS outfits, and some other such nonsense. Extremely dangerous, do not approach, HASTR agents only, the works. Kasumi Goto and Miranda Lawson are listed as likely accomplices."
Ashley glanced back and forth between Commander Bailey and her own holographically-projected image plastered on the C-Sec bulletin. "Son of a bitch."
Goyle glanced at Ashley and raised an eyebrow, looking more amused than alarmed. "It appears we've sufficiently stirred the hornet's nest, Commander Williams."
Ashley scowled. "I better get out of here. It's probably not safe for you to be around me, Ambassador Goyle."
Goyle gave an unconcerned smile. "Just wait a bit, Commander," she said and checked the old style timepiece she wore on her slim wrist. "I have one more guest on the way over. She should be here any minute now. I think you'll find her experience helpful in your current situation."
Ashley shot Goyle an incredulous look and began to protest when a rapid tone issued from the security console along the far wall.
Thane crossed the distance to the console with two long strides. "Company," he said, and turned to look at the group over his shoulder. "Not who we were expecting." He typed a rapid command and ported the vid feed from the camera installed outside the front entryway door to one of the big displays mounted on the wall. Two HASTR operatives wearing full Exo-suits could clearly be seen walking toward the door. They were flanking a petite, dark-haired woman dressed in a stylish slim-cut business suit.
"Why didn't we see them coming up the lifts or the stairwell?" Kolyat said, joining his father at the computer. "We're linked into the building's entire security network."
"Not any longer," Thane said. "Our connection has been overridden by another program. Extremely sophisticated. We're compromised. This is the only exterior feed we can still access. Probably because it's hardwired directly to the console."
"I know her," Osoba said, gazing up at the screen, the woman in the picture drawing nearer. "Melanie. She's with the Diplomatic Security Service." He glanced over at Ashley and Goyle, and shrugged. "She's always been quite friendly to me."
"How fucking friendly can she be if she's with Udina's goons?" Ashley said acidly, the tension that had been steadily building up within her since Campbell's call reaching a fever pitch. A year ago, she probably never would have dreamed of taking that tone with a high-ranking Alliance official. But things were changing—fast. Plus, all things considered, it was turning out to be a pretty shitty day.
"I've never seen her with the Councilor," Osoba said defensively, looking a little wounded.
The woman and her escort reached the door a moment later and hit the intercom. "Ambassador Goyle," she said, her voice ported through a set of concealed speakers in the ceiling. "Melanie Palls, DSS. Could you please come to the door? I have an urgent matter to discuss with you."
Thane was busy giving instructions to Kolyat and motioning toward another part of the apartment. Ashley and Bailey both had their hands on their holstered weapons. Osoba looked a little confused, standing at the center of the room, unsure of what to do with himself. Anita glared at the lot of them and started moving toward her front door.
"Wait," Ashley said, "I don't think you should answer that, Ambassador."
"I'm with her, Miss Goyle," Bailey said. "Best to let me talk to them."
"I'd rather not have to explain your presence here, Commander Bailey, if it can be avoided. In fact, only Dominic seems an appropriate visitor for a retired diplomat like myself. I suggest the rest of you remain out of sight. In any event, since they appear to have control over the building's systems, I don't imagine it would take them long to breach my door if I was to pretend not to be home. Besides, if they wanted to assassinate me, I highly doubt they'd ring the doorbell first."
Ashley and Bailey exchanged a tense, exasperated look as Goyle swept past them. The Citadel cop shrugged and they both quickly followed the older woman, each taking up position against the wall on either side of the doorway, hidden from sight.
Goyle glanced at Ashley one last time and gave a subtle little nod. "Open," she said, prompting the door to unlock and slide away.
"Hello, Ambassador Goyle," Agent Palls said, smiling warmly. "How do you do today?"
"Rather busy at the moment, Agent Palls. What is it I can do for you?"
"Of course," the DSS agent said. "And I apologize for disturbing you at home, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to come with me. Due to the recent instability on the station, and with the growing hostility being directed toward the human population, I've been assigned as your new protective detail and tasked with ensuring that you're relocated to a safe location. You're welcome to pack a few essentials, but we really should hurry."
Anita furrowed her brow and eyed the two hulking men standing behind Palls. In contrast to the syrupy sweet DSS agent, the HASTR operatives looked utterly humorless, decked out in their sleek powered exoskeletons with short-barreled combat shotguns slung over their chests, fingers resting on the trigger guards. For the first time in months, she began to feel a visceral sense of fear in her belly. She cleared her throat softly. "Well, that's very thoughtful of you, Agent Palls. But I have no interest in leaving my home. I assure you, I'm quite safe here. I decline your assistance."
"I'm so sorry ma'am," Palls said. "But that's simply not an option. These orders were issued by Councilor Udina himself. All potential high value targets are to be escorted to a secure location until things on the station calm down." She peered over Anita's shoulder, looking deeper into the apartment and spotting Osoba standing at the edge of the living room. "Ah, Ambassador Osoba. Excellent. You're also on our list, of course." She beamed at Anita. "This is very convenient."
To Anita's left, Ashley was controlling her breathing, slow and steady, anticipating the worst. She slid her hand beneath her jacket and pulled her pistol from its holster slung under her armpit, thumbing the safety off with one smooth motion. On the other side of the door, she could see Bailey pulling his own sidearm from where it was strapped to his hip. Before today, Ashley hadn't met the man, only seeing him in passing when she'd been on the Presidium for Naval business. She wasn't sure if he had a military background, but from his bearing, the efficiency of his movements, she can tell he could handle himself.
Ashley glanced back at where Osoba was standing nervously at the end of the hall, still looking lost. Thane and Kolyat had vanished, but she knew they were close.
Anita raised herself up to her full height, her posture rigid. She was at least three inches taller than the DSS agent. "Please tell Donnell I appreciate his concern but have no intention of being taken into protective custody. As I said, I refuse to leave my home and Ambassador Osoba is my guest. We're fine."
The female agent's smile dissolved and she regarded Anita with a suddenly pitiless expression. "There are no exceptions, Ambassador," she said sternly, reaching out and taking hold of Goyle's wrist with shocking quickness. Anita gave a yelp of surprise and pain.
Ashley and Bailey responded immediately, swinging out from either side of the door in unison, their weapons drawn.
"Fingers off those triggers, boys," Bailey commanded, leveling his Carnifex hand cannon on the closer of the two HASTR operatives.
"Lady, you need to take your hand off the Ambassador," Ashley said, pointing her gun directly at the agent's head, cocking it with her thumb in a slow, deliberate motion. "Right now."
The DSS Agent didn't even flinch, the muzzle of the M-5 heavy pistol mere inches from her face, and met Ashley's gaze. "Commander Williams," she said, smiling broadly, showing her perfect teeth. "These happy coincidences are multiplying by the second."
Ashley scowled, unsettled by the woman's look of predatory excitement. At this range, she could clearly see the subtle glint of electronic light in the agent's eyes—the telltale sign of her augmented corneas. Probably tactical overlays, similar to Kasumi's implant.
The sudden and dramatic shift of atmospheric pressure, the effect amplified by the foyer's close quarters, took Ashley almost completely by surprise. She barely had time to brace herself before the violent surge of mass effect energy struck her with the force of a small skycar, flinging her backward through the air. She spun awkwardly, vaguely aware of Osoba shouting a surprised protest, and crashed into an accent table at the other end of the hallway.
The thousands of tiny protective modules embedded in the nanofiber armor layer Ashley was wearing dampened the effect, but it still felt like every nerve ending in her body was on fire. It was a sensation she hadn't experienced since taking a point-blank biotic wave from an asari commando back on Noveria, years ago. She tried to ignore the searing, low level pain and gather herself, struggling to regain her breath after the wind was totally knocked from her lungs. She rolled onto her knees, staying low and groped for her pistol, but it was gone, blown out of her grip.
Silently cursing, she looked and saw as the two HASTR operatives advance past the door and into the foyer, their combat shotguns sweeping for targets within the apartment. Then, movement in the corner of her vision. Thane had swung out from behind a wall at the opposite end of the room, the heavy pistol in his hand barking out a rapid staccato. The killing shots struck one of the HASTR soldiers above the shoulders, jerking his head back, but were largely deflected by what must have been a military grade kinetic barrier unit. Thane kept firing, shifting his aim downward and driving the man back into the building's hallway. The other HASTR operative returned fire and sidestepped into the apartment with long, mechanically assisted strides. The report of his shotgun was an earsplitting thunderclap.
Ashley gritted her teeth, still scanning the immediate area for her weapon. To her horror, she saw Anita crumpled on the floor a few meters away, unmoving. From somewhere behind her, there was a sharp cry of pain. She couldn't tell from who. Across the room, Bailey had staggered to his feet, still recovering from the same potent dose of biotic energy that had nailed Ashley and Goyle. His left arm was hanging loose at his side, probably dislocated. Miraculously, he'd still managed to hang on to his own weapon. He took a one-handed aim, tracking the HASTR operative moving within the apartment and fired, emptying half a clip and driving the man into the adjacent dining area.
Where the hell did that DSS bitch go?
The blur of movement she caught out of the corner of her eye gave her just enough time to raise her hand defensively before the woman's foot connected with the side of her head. Stars popped in her vision and Ashley was knocked back again, but training and adrenaline took over and she rolled back onto her feet in an instant, squaring herself with her attacker.
Agent Palls still had that wild, predatory gleam in her eye as she charged at Ashley, a shimmering blue aura of biotic energy dissipating from around her slight frame.
Ashley greeted her by sending a hard straight punch at the agent's face. The smaller woman easily ducked under the punch, countering with a rapid swing of her elbow. Ashley pulled her head back and avoided the blow, but then Palls was nearly on top of her and it was a blur of punching, kicking, and grappling.
Behind the DSS agent's back, Ashley saw a brief glimpse of Kolyat venturing into the fray. He dashed forward with surprising agility and strength, scooping up Anita's lifeless form. A stray round clipped him on his shoulder, but he didn't even slow down, hauling Goyle rapidly over to the relative safety of the back kitchen and out of the crossfire.
Bailey and Thane were still busy exchanging fire with the HASTR operatives, trying to keep them at bay. Palls landed a solid open-handed strike to Ashley's sternum that made her gasp for breath. She staggered backward, but seized a fist full of the agent's short hair. She pulled the woman toward her and delivered a crippling knee to her gut. Palls crumpled and gave a muffled whimper.
Ashley took another step toward her, but then the floor began to vibrate beneath her feet and the walls seemed to shudder around her. She heard the distinctive, deafening roar of a Kodiak drop shuttle's engines thundering just outside the building a moment before the entire south-facing exterior wall of windows exploded inward, showering the inside of the apartment with shards of reinforced, laminated glass. She raised her arm to shield her face from the debris raining in on her just as four combat troopers in sealed armor, assisted by personal thruster packs, sailed in through the opening, penetrating the low-powered emergency mass effect force fields that had instantly sealed off the breached room to the vacuum beyond.
Thane was on the nearest assault trooper before he could squeeze the trigger of his heavy submachine gun, a long blade flash-forged by his Omni-tool driven clean through the man's armored neck. Spinning around in one sweeping, graceful motion, Thane extracted the blade and kicked the dead trooper out the window he'd arrived through before delivering a rapid burst of biotic energy at another of the new arrivals, charging toward him.
Ashley didn't have time to appreciate the drell man's elegance in close-quarters combat, the other two assault troopers having turned to level their own SMGs in her direction. She dove to her right, behind the ridiculously inadequate cover of a large synthetic leather sofa as super-heated rounds zipped over her head, peppering the wall behind her.
Landing with a graceless thud, she looked and saw, unbelievably, her gun two feet away from her, lodged under the sofa against one leg. She seized the weapon and crawled franticly farther to her right, away from the rapidly disintegrating piece of furniture, and rolled over to one knee. She raised her M-5 and fired with a rushed aim, rounds plinking ineffectually off the closest trooper's heavy-ballistic armor.
Emptying her pistol's clip on the trooper, she sprang to her feet and dashed off in the other direction, feeling several slugs deflect off her kinetic shielding as she ran, and dove behind the wall of the hallway leading to the back rooms of the apartment. Behind her, Palls was back on her feet and scrambling away in the other direction, engaging Bailey with a small handgun she'd produced from somewhere on her person.
Ashley ejected the spent clip and slapped home a fresh one she'd seized from her shoulder rig. She leaned back out to take aim at the heavily armored combat troopers, but hesitated when she felt the wispy hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stand up. She whirled back around toward where she'd last seen the DSS agent, expecting another attack from the biotic.
Instead, Ashley saw someone else entirely striding menacingly in through the entrance hall. Wearing a studded leather jacket, sides of her head shaved, covered in tattoos, and aglow with an aura of crackling biotic energy, the woman halted at the edge of the living room and surveyed the carnage like some pissed off landlord breaking up a frat party.
Ashley held her weapon at the ready and in close to her body, a tortured grimace on her face, trying to decide if the stranger was friend or foe.
But her question was answered a split second before she could even react when the woman gave a primal yell and unleashed a frighteningly powerful shockwave that struck the two assault troopers she'd been engaging with bone-jarring force. They were hurled backward, limbs flailing, out though the windows they'd arrived through. The force fields holding the atmosphere at bay crackled with energy as their bodies were flung through the breach, like insects through a bug zapper.
Ashley wasted no time admiring the satisfying display of force and leaned back out to take aim at the DSS Agent. Palls was moving with renewed urgency now, away from the other biotic, firing wildly behind her as she ran in the opposite direction.
She didn't get far. A jolting lash of biotic energy ensnared her legs and sent her crashing to the floor face-first, her weapon dislodged from her grip and sent skittering across the room. Jack gave a little jerk of her arm and whipped Palls across the room. She was hammered against the opposite side of the wall Ashley was hunkered down behind, striking with a sickening crunch before sliding limply to the floor and rolling onto her back.
Ashley came around the edge and shoved the muzzle of her weapon in the battered woman's face, but there was no need. Palls stared up at her with vacant, lifeless eyes. Dead.
Raising her M-5 back up to a tight ready position, she scanned the area for another target, but found nothing more to shoot. The last of the four assault troopers who'd crashed through the windows was splayed out on the floor near Thane's feet, his head twisted back at an unnatural angle. One of the HASTR operatives who had originally arrived with Palls was on the ground at the other end of the apartment, bleeding out from multiple gunshot wounds.
Ashley flicked her eyes back and forth, breathing in long ragged breaths, searching. "One more hostile unaccounted for," she called out.
"Relax, sister," Jack said coolly. "I punched that asshole's ticket back out in the hallway. We're clear."
Bailey looked over and held Ashley's gaze for a moment before staggering over to one of the apartment's few remaining intact windows, peering out cautiously. "Shuttle's moving off," he said. "It's a goddamn C-Sec model. Unarmed."
Thane was doubled over nearby, hands on his knees, wheezing badly. "Jack," he croaked, glancing over at her. "Excellent timing, as always."
Jack strode directly over to the drell man and placed an unexpectedly gentle hand on his back, leaning in close. "You better grab a seat and take it easy for a minute," she said softly, glancing around the ruined apartment. "If there's anything left to sit on that's not shot all to fuck."
He nodded. "Kolyat, Anita."
"We're here, father," Kolyat said, coming back into the central living space, supporting Goyle under his uninjured arm. "We're okay."
Goyle raised her head gingerly and surveyed the devastation of her home, her eyes unfocused. "Not exactly how I'd hoped to redecorate," she murmured, her gaze drifting to the center of the room, "Oh no. Dominic."
Ashley followed Anita's gaze to the center of the room. Ambassador Osoba was there, prone, his face buried in the living room's plush white carpet that was rapidly turning a shade of red as the pool of blood beneath him expanded outward.
"Shit," Ashley cried, holstering her weapon before dashing over the man, dropping to her knees next to him. He had a ragged wound along his lower right midsection, just above the hip, blood flowing from it freely. It was bad, but still better than if he'd taken the round center mass. That would have torn him in half. She pushed her hands against the wound, trying to staunch the flow, and looked around at the others. "Somebody grab the med kit!"
Yeah, she thought bitterly, one helluva a shitty day.
Author's note:
Okay, so this chapter was originally going to be a back and forth between the Normandy and the Citadel, but it was growing a bit too large and would have taken a while longer to edit and prep for publishing. So, instead, I decided to just break it up and get this piece out sooner.
It could have probably gone either way really (the Normandy content or this Ashley content), but swinging back to the Citadel on the heels of the last chapter's ending seemed like it would flow a bit better. Plus, this Ashley-centric sequence was farther along than the other stuff. That said, there's a lot of Normandy content already written and staged for chapter 39, so I hope you'll forgive this little departure into Ashley's side of the story. It was necessary to keep setting up the rest of what I have planned for my reimagined, expanded version of the Citadel Coup. The next installment won't be far off, with much more Miranda-Shepard content on the way.
As always, thanks for reading and reviewing.